


Fortune Favors

by InkyJustine



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Greek Mythology - Freeform, M/M, Sibling Incest, Some Plot, dumb luck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-25 15:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12535524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkyJustine/pseuds/InkyJustine
Summary: In which Nate and Sam walk into trouble, accidentally find treasures and walk out of the trouble.





	Fortune Favors

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [drakecestprompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/drakecestprompts) collection. 



> I wanted to fill something more spontaneously again instead of planing stuff to death and this happened... I wished it was longer...
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> I saw this on a prompt meme and I feel like it really is about the brothers. Do what you will with it.
> 
> If I was dying on my knees  
> You would be the one to rescue me  
> And if you were drowned at sea  
> I'd give you my lungs so you could breathe

Nathan Drake was going to die. Bullet through the chest. Or maybe bullet through the head if he was fortunate and the thugs had perfect aim. They sure didn't look like they did. Fuck, this was going to hurt, more so than the hit to the side of his head that Nathan had gotten when he had fallen off the train, getting himself separated from Sam. 

Nathan swayed on the spot. The waves were crashing against the side of the mountain far below. He could hear it even up here, with the sheer drop right behind him. He was quite unhappy with his predicament. His vision was a little blurry. One of the goons had punched him in the solar plexus so hard he had thrown up. He held his belly, protectively, which was no use at this point. They had their guns aimed at him and any moment now they were going to shoot. 

The day had started so well. He and Sam in the bed in the hotel room they had rented, just lazily trading kisses before they forced themselves apart and out of the bed. It had been so nice. A wave of calm had washed over him when they had brushed their teeth in the bathroom, side by side. Domesticity. They had last had that over a decade ago. 

And now Nathan was about to get shot just because he had pissed into the wrong guy’s cereals again. 

"Any last words?" Andy, or Eddy or Andrew asked, smug-faced son of a bitch hiding behind his rent-a-thugs. Nathan had forgotten his name, but he knew he was some collector of antiques, which didn't manage to make him memorable in Nathan's mind even with the guns in his face and the prospect of being riddled with bullets in his immediate future. There were so many collectors around, including Nathan and his brother and a few others he liked way more than this guy..

"Your hair looks stupid," Nathan said and did his best not to faint. Although passing out would probably make his various body parts hurt less.

The collector whose name started with something like an E or an A noisily breathed in through clenched teeth. Nathan closed his eyes, visualizing Sam in his mind as a comfort. As if that had been enough to summon him, a crash sounded, followed by gunfire and Nathan watched as Sam drove right into the middle of the group of thugs with his jeep, firing away with one hand. Nathan saw more than one guy go down, including whatshisface who dove into a puddle to get out of the way. Then he didn't see anything anymore, because his body chose that moment collapse. 

Nathan didn't even feel the drop, the impact as his body crashed into the ocean far below, or the way Sam cried out for him high up on the cliff...

Time passed. Darkness surrounded him, but it was ok. Nothing hurt.

Then, some indeterminable amount of time later, Nathan woke up. Sam's mouth was pressed over his and... oh... he was pushing air into Nathan's lungs. He wished he could have enjoyed the moment a little longer, but he choked, spitting water and saliva into Sam’s face when he jerked back and ceased mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in favor of pushing him onto his side. Nathan choked and spit and heaved a little longer before all the water he had swallowed was back out, before he could draw a clean breath again. Sam patted his back, waiting it out. 

"Jesus, Nathan." Sam sounded relieved. Nathan concentrated on his steadying presence behind him, the weight of his brother's hands on his back. Then he spoke. 

"Yeah," he croaked out and let himself be helped to his feet. Both of them were drenched and Nathan shivered, both from exhaustion and the cold, but at least his head was clearing. Sam's palms on both sides of his waist kept him from keeling over until he felt steady on his feet again. Water drops hit the top of his head.

"How the hell did we get in here?" Only now could he take in the place they were in. It was a cave, spacious. Steps were leading down into the water. Waves lapped at the stone. Nathan had lain on those steps. Through a gap in the cave's walls he could see the vast ocean spread out to the horizon. "What happened?" The last thing he could remember was kneeling on top of the cliff.

Sam cleared his throat, both their eyes were fixed on the only place where light was coming through. On either side of the gap were decorations cut into the walls. This had been a place of people, long ago. Algae clung to the stone, proof of the tide.

"Well," Sam began, "I tried to heroically rescue you." Unbidden the last image Nathan had seen before consciousness had deserted him rose to the front of his mind. Sam had come barreling into the thugs with a jeep. "And you fainted and fell off the damn cliff."

"A long drop." Nathan's voice was faint. Jesus how had he survived that.

"Tell me about it," Sam said and continued, "I jumped after you and got you up to the surface again. The waves threw us in here. I thought we were going to be slammed into the side of the cliff." Wonder and worry still swung in his voice and Nathan couldn't fault him. 

"We're very lucky," Nathan said. The gap didn't look very wide, just enough to let a small boat through and that only if the winds and the waves were on your side. 

"Yeah," Sam agreed. Now that Nathan felt steady enough on his feet he looked around, into the darkness lying behind him. In the dark he could make out steps leading up to an entrance that looked to be nothing more than a black hole into nothingness. "Looks like some sort of temple," Sam commented and Nathan had to agree. The location alone was almost enough to give that away. 

"It should be filled up with water once the flood sets in," Nathan said and turned on his flashlight. Sam followed his lead. The light flickered for a moment and then stayed on. Definitely a temple, Nathan decided. The reliefs around the entrance he had seen from below showed an entity, an old man, surrounded by fish. "Poseidon." 

"You think it's one of his temples?" Sam asked as they made their way up the stairs, eyes on the decorative carvings. There was a lot of fish and other sea-life shown on the walls. Water was dripping steadily from the ceiling.

"Definitely," Nathan said “Why else would it be at the bottom of a cliff, right at sea level."

Sam nodded and grinned. "Good point." They reached the top of the stairs and Nathan shone his flashlight into the room beyond. It was a wide chamber with a pedestal rising up in the middle. Lines were cut into the ground. A widening circle. Something had been sacrificed on the altar, but it must have been a long time ago. The blood had dried, leaving dark stains on the stone that was already grown over with seaweed. Nathan even saw a starfish on the ground, waiting for the next tide. 

"Think it's the right temple? The one we are searching for?" Sam asked him. His voice echoed in the chamber. Entrances were leading off on each wall. Behind them the waves still lapped at the stairs and the sea rushed outside. The dark entrance to their right was open, leading off into the darkness. To their left the ceiling had caved in, blocking the room off that lay behind it. Up ahead was another room. Driftwood had found its way in there. Sticks and algae lay everywhere. 

"We'll have to see, don't we?" Nathan countered and with a look, decided to go right first. "Think there will be stairs leading outside?"

"I hope so," Sam said as they entered the next room, "otherwise we will have to swim." The prospect didn't hold a whole lot of appeal to Nathan. Swimming against the waves sounded like suicide. Sam's face told him that his thoughts were going along the same lines. 

"Maybe we'll be lucky," Nathan said without much conviction. Because that had always worked so well for him in the past. They turned their focus back on the room. It was smaller than the first, less ceremonial and more like a place of preparation for priests. Alcoves were cut into the walls, which were bare, with only some wavy lines as decoration. A stone table lay broken in a corner. Either time had dug its claws into the stone or someone had smashed it. Some plain stone jars stood in the alcove. Whatever it once held was gone, swept away or disintegrated. 

"Probably rotted away," Sam said, peering into another one. "This isn't going to get us much in terms of profit.”

"At least the place is impressive," Nathan said and heard his brother grumble in answer. A grin stole over his own face. On their tour through the other temples of Poseidon and various water spirits, they had picked up a few trinkets. They weren't going to leave empty-handed. 

Of course they weren't about to get rich either. 

After another cursory glance which revealed nothing except a pretty shell that Nathan stored in his pocket, they returned back to the sacrificial room and turned right again, towards the black hole of the entrance leading away from where they had first landed. 

This room was bigger than the first, and also had a pedestal in the center. Nathan let his fingers trail around the hole in it. Water had made the stone smooth to the touch. 

"You think this is where it used to sit?" Sam mused beside him and Nathan nodded after a moment. He turned his eyes on the reliefs on the walls. The old man was shown again, carrying his trident, creating storms and keeping the sea at bay. 

"Yeah," Nathan said and they moved around the room, holding their flashlights up and reading the inscriptions. This time, two of the four doors were blocked. A part of the wall had caved in. 

"I think this place was ransacked," Sam said, stepping over a piece of driftwood in the shape of a staff, endings forked. Nathan gave it a cursory glance. 

Nathan nodded. "Maybe it was swept away." Even to his own ears he didn't sound like he believed it. Everything was gone. A holy place like this was supposed to hold a little more gold, a few more solid cups and other valuables. None of it was known to swim well. "Or maybe they took everything with them when they left this place."

Sam shrugged. "Could be." He shuddered when a drop fell off the ceiling and hit his head, presumably running down the back of his neck. "I can't wait to be dry again.”

"Agreed!" Nathan laughed and wiped his own cheek when water dropped on him. Then he sobered. "Hey, look at this," he said and moved over to the blocked entrance on the left. Right beside it on the wall, Poseidon split the sea with his trident. 

"What did you find?" Sam said and came to stand beside him,"oh. Maybe they didn't just leave after all." A skull lay against the wall. A few feet away from the ribcage crushed underneath a rock and to who it probably belonged to, if Nathan was allowed to make an educated guess. The sea had probably carried the skeleton’s arms away. 

"Maybe we'll find what we're looking for in the room?" Sam said, tilting his head.

"Let’s look and see what we can find first. Maybe there is a lot of temple still to go."

There wasn't. The unblocked doorway led to a corridor, steadily sloping upwards until the signs of the sea were growing sparser and sparser and finally disappeared at the bottom of another set of stairs, these one narrow, leading upwards. 

"Our way outside?" Nathan asked and Sam nodded with a grin. Mutually agreed, they returned to the chamber and turned towards the rubble blocking their way. Sam picked up the driftwood, formed like a staff. It broke off as he tried to lift a rock, Nathan carried another one away. He was almost too heavy for him. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a flash. It had come from the caved in wall on the other side.

"Crap," Sam cursed and threw the driftwood that had broken off away. "I'd need something metal. You found something?" He asked when he saw Nathan's face. 

Nathan shook his head. "Nothing. I thought I saw something." He turned away but again something flashed just at the edge of his vision. Sam followed him over to the wall. Up on top of the rubble part of the wall had split off straight. "Help me up there?" he asked and Sam shrugged.

"Sure," he said and stood with his back to the pile of rocks. He intertwined his hands and let Nathan step on them, heaving him upwards. 

"Shit," Nathan muttered. Of course it had been nothing nice. 

"What did you find?" Sam called from below and Nathan sighed. 

"Nothing," he said and picked up the piece of driftwood that lay in front of him. "Here," he told Sam and dropped it down, watching in amusement as Sam let it fall to the ground in disgust at its slippery feeling, “Something to move the rocks away." The piece of wood was covered in shells and algae. It felt _slimy_ and wet, especially wet, which considering the overall moistness of the place was hardly a surprise. The light of his flashlight must have reflected off the shells, some of them looked rather shiny. Well, one of them did.

"Alright, _thanks_ ," Sam muttered from below and moved back over to the other side while Nathan climbed off the rocks. At least the driftwood was long enough to work as a lever, if it didn't break off like the other. One end held three spikes, if you had a good imagination, tilted your head just so and squinted. Nathan shook his head when another few drops hit him from above. All things considered it didn't really matter since he was already drenched, but it was annoying all the same. Where was the water even coming from. The flood couldn't have been long ago if it was still dripping, or maybe it was raining outside. Nathan wished he had a raincoat as he followed his brother across the room. This time, the stick didn't break and Sam managed to heave one of the bigger slabs off the pile. Beside him, Nathan moved smaller rocks out of the way. Once the entrance was free, Sam handed the stick to Nathan.

It didn't feel any nicer to touch, though after a while the sliminess faded, leaving only the impression of wetness. The room beyond was dripping even more. Now they could see the skeletons all around. Blocked off as it had been, the current hadn't been able to sweep the bones away. This time they found a few trinkets, stepping gingerly over the remains. Picking up a few armbands, rusted over. Sam stored a goblet in his pockets. Then he cursed when water ran into his collar.

"Let’s get out of here," Sam said, "we won't find the trident here."

"Yeah, there's still one place we haven't checked," Nathan agreed. They had been on their way there when they had run into Andy-Eddy-Edward's little group. 

They made their way over to the corridor and froze when they came to the stairs. Up above, where previously everything had been silence, voices could be heard. Speaking loudly.

"Crap," Nathan whispered and they retreated back into the room. His hand tightened around the piece of driftwood he had all but forgotten he was still holding. It felt rather comforting in his grip.

"Good idea. You can use that as a club," Sam commented and looked around for a stick he could use to defend himself against the _guns_ the thugs had because there was no way anyone else was coming down the stairs. 

"A lot of good it will do us," Nathan scoffed. Was it only him or was the ceiling dripping more. It was almost raining. Shit if the room was going to flood, too, they would be even more fucked. 

"Nathan?" Worry colored Sam's voice and Nathan had expected him to look towards the entrance where, at the end of the corridor the voices were growing louder, but instead Sam was staring at him with water dripping down his face. 

"What?" Nathan said and realization dawned just as the word left his mouth. Sam was getting _drenched_ and Nathan wasn't feeling a thing. Tentatively, he looked up. Drops of water were falling on him, too, but two steps or more above him they cascaded away to the side, following an invisible wall. Nathan's mouth dropped open and a confused sound escaped him. Meanwhile, Sam stretched out his hand and waved it through the air around Nathan, catching water in his palm. Nathan aimed his flashlight up and nearly choked on his spit. Water was creeping over the ceiling and pooling over where he was standing. 

Sam stepped closer and the drops stopped falling onto him. 

At pretty much the same time their eyes fell on the stick Nathan was still holding. 

The voices came closer. 

Without speaking, words had deserted them, they turned to the reliefs showing Poseidon. And his trident. It looked nothing like what Nathan was holding. For one, it was way more majestic.

"I have Poseidon's Trident in my hand," Nathan said. He couldn't keep the awe out of his voice.

"Yeah," Sam breathed out.

"And soon we'll be riddled with bullets," Nathan added, coming back to the situation at hand. The voices had almost reached them.

"Yeah," Sam said and they retreated back to where they had come from, back to the stairs. Outside it looked almost as if a storm had broken loose. Maybe that had chased the others down here. 

"We can't kill them all," Nathan said. Rushing was in his ears. 

"We could with the trident," Sam said and cursed when Nathan shook his head. 

"No idea how it works," he said. Water was still creeping over the ceiling and now they could see that it was from the sea. 

There was a pulse, faint against Nathan's palms. The rushing intensified and Sam whispered his name as Nathan turned towards the steps. One of the pictures on the wall stood vivid in front of his mind's eye, Poseidon under the sea. 

"Take my hand," Nathan demanded and Sam followed his order without hesitating. Nathan's palm was sweaty, his other hand was holding the trident in front of him. He really really hoped that this was going to work. The trident was telling him what to do. 

"What are you doing?" Sam hissed and looked over his shoulder. Lights were coming closer, hard to see through the rain from the ceiling. 

Nathan swallowed. "We're going down the steps and walk back to shore," he explained. He hoped the air was going to last, that the trident's magic had some kind of failsafe for the expiration of oxygen. The picture had shown Poseidon surrounded by a bubble of air after all.

Holding hands they stepped down the stairs. Water rose around them as they went deeper, held back by the invisible walls surrounding them. Nathan heard Sam breath unsteadily as the water closed a few feet over their heads. Their flashlights barely penetrated the darkness of the water, but, slowly, the area became clear to Nathan, as if someone had switched on a dim light. He had a sense of where he was and where everything else was. The surface was many many feet above them as they stepped out of the cliff side. 

"I can't see a thing," Sam said, voice wavering. 

"I can," Nathan assured him and squeezed his hand. 

"Don't ever let me go," Sam said. His other hand came to grip his arm. In the darkness below the sea, Nathan turned his head and kissed him. 

Up above, the collector's men entered the room with the stairs. There was nothing there except a lone crab sitting on the edge of the pool. 

The waves lapped gently against the steps.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Please leave a kudos if you enjoyed the writing. :)


End file.
